I returned home today from the 2008 Conference for Pastors and Leaders hosted by Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri (my hometown). The conference went well. I meet two new friends, Joe Beach & Lee Cummings. Both are pastors and we are certainly cut from the same stock. It is such a pleasure to hang out with like-minded pastors.
The book signing went well. Here are some pictures:
My friend Brian Zahnd, my new friend Lee Cummings, and I were the primary speakers at the conference and we each spoke on similar themes although we didn’t plan it that way. We each talked about fresh paradigms for ministry. I spoke on Charismania: Rethinking the Values of a Charismatic Subculture. The was an important message for me, because it describes why I packed my bags and left the charismatic movement. It was well received.
Thursday night, Brian shared ten definitive statements based on his four year journey of rethinking the Christian life. He called it “My Own Reformation.” He shared ten—or nine and a half—”isms” that he has rejected in order to experience a more authentic Christian life. Here is his list:
1) For the sake of a more authentic Christianity, I reject fundamentalism.
2) For the sake of a more sound Christianity, I reject fanaticism.
3) For the sake of a more peaceable Christianity, I reject tribalism.
4) For the sake of a more biblical Christianity, I reject Gnosticism.
5) For the sake of worldwide Christianity, I reject nationalism.
6) For the sake of a more prophetic Christianity, I reject politicism.
7) For the sake of a more rooted Christianity, I reject presentism.
8) For the sake of a more kingdom-oriented Christianity, I reject privatism.
9) For the sake of a more sacred Christianity, I reject pragmatism.
9.5) For the sake of Spirit-filled Christianity, I reject Pentecostalism.
I could not agree more.